


My Fellow Americans

by SkipTheSoundbites



Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 19:23:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14027076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkipTheSoundbites/pseuds/SkipTheSoundbites
Summary: At the beginning of Tom Kirkman's re-election campaign, two members of his senior staff recall the moments that changed their lives.





	My Fellow Americans

The late spring sun was shining through the windows of the Chief of Staff’s office, bathing the faces of the room’s occupants in a soft glow. The long hours they had been working in recent weeks, beyond even their usual hectic pace, had taken their toll on the occupants of the West Wing. Surrounded by the trappings of a presidential campaign about to be launched, two members of the senior staff had finally given into their exhaustion and opened the drinks cabinet.

Seth flicked through the pages of the notepad resting on his lap, looking over the notes he had been making earlier, notes for the president’s first campaign speech. It seemed strange to be preparing a re-election campaign for a president who’d never even run for office let alone been elected but nothing about Kirkman’s presidency had been conventional so Seth saw no reason for that to start now. Fortunately, Kirkman’s service in the months since the Capitol bombing had relieved Seth of one responsibility in his speech; there was no need for him to convince the American people what sort of president Kirkman would be, they had already seen that for themselves. Instead, Seth was devoting his time to presenting Kirkman as the man who could not only to lead America out of tragedy, he had already done that, but also build a new future for the nation. Pouring himself another whiskey, he tossed the notes aside and said, “Nearly eighteen months in and you’d think I’d be comfortable in this job, but I still feel like I’m pretending.”

“I have a feeling that never goes away.” replied Emily, “I go into the Oval Office every day and talk to the President of the United States but I still feel like I should be working at HUD.” She paused for a moment, casting her eyes around the office before asking, “When did it hit you that all this was actually real?”

Swirling the amber liquid in his glass, Seth took his time before answering. “I don’t know. I don’t think there was a single moment. It came in waves.” he paused, “Comes in waves.”

Emily raised an eyebrow, “That’s not a very straight answer Mr Press Secretary. Come on you’re not in the briefing room now. When was your first moment of realisation?” When Seth made no reply other than to shift his gaze to the ceiling, she let out a breath of laughter, “Fine. I’ll tell you mine.” That caught Seth’s attention and he watched her with curiosity, waiting for her to continue.

When she did, it was with a question, “Do you remember when Kirkman arrested Governor Royce?”

Seth snorted, “Yes Emily. I remember when the new, unelected president arrested a sitting governor for treason.” She folded her arms across her chest at that and her eyebrows drew together in a frown. Seth waved an unapologetic hand at her disgruntled expression and indicated that she should continue.

“What I mean is, I’ve known Tom Kirkman for years and working in the White House didn’t seem that much different from HUD at first. The problems we were dealing with were bigger but in the early days everyone was trying to deal with the same stuff, just getting through the bombing, you know? It was just coming at us quicker.” She stopped for a moment remembering the early days of the Kirkman administration when it had seemed like her, Seth and Aaron against the world. The senior staff had grown since then with the addition of Kendra and Lyor but she’d never quite lost the bunker mentality of those first few weeks when they’d lost everything and were determined to protect the one man they had left to rely on.

“Then he arrested Governor Royce and everything I thought I knew about him, about what we were doing, changed. It was like someone had pulled back a curtain and I wasn’t looking at Tom Kirkman anymore, I was watching the president.” Emily stopped suddenly, searching for the right words. “It sounds stupid. I mean it’s not even about me really but I watched a man I’d known for years change in the blink of an eye and I realised that, if I wanted to survive in the big leagues, I was going to have to change too.” She trailed off, unconsciously picking at the label of her beer.

“You weren’t in Kansas anymore.” Seth replied in understanding. Emily nodded but didn’t elaborate further and they fell into a comfortable silence drinking and occasionally flicking through the piles of paper which surrounded them. After several minutes, Seth spoke, “Mine was that first night, when the Capitol was attacked.” He topped up his glass before continuing, “I hadn’t seen too much of what was going on in the building.” he said, “I’d spent most of it either with the First Lady trying to work out what sort of president Kirkman was going to be or at my desk writing a speech to convince the American people that the answer was ‘a good one’.” Ironically, it was probably Seth’s conversations with the First Lady that had convinced him of Kirkman’s ability to do the job. The president had shown decency and compassion when they had first met but it was Mrs Kirkman’s unwavering faith in her husband which had made him consider that the uncertain former HUD Secretary may have hidden depths.  

Emily smirked, remembering that America’s response to the president’s first speech had not exactly been one of confidence in the new commander-in-chief and, seeing her reaction, Seth offered a wry smile in return. “Yeah,” he laughed, “turns out that wasn’t my finest work.” They fell into silence once more, each lost in their memories of fighting to keep Kirkman’s presidency afloat in the midst of constant onslaughts from Al-Sakar, Kimble Hookstraten and mutinous governors.

“Anyway,” Emily said, “I’m assuming that writing a poorly received speech wasn’t when you realised what your new life was going to be.”

“Actually, it kind of was.” Seth replied. “Not the reception of the speech but standing in the Oval Office watching the President of the United States sitting behind the Resolute desk and reading my words to the world. That’s what every speech writer dreams of and I hated the circumstance but… it was just… wow.”

“Reading those words was pretty awe-inspiring too.” interrupted a voice from the doorway. Emily and Seth sprung to their feet as the president entered the room but soon resumed their seats when he moved some of Seth’s abandoned drafts to claim the armchair nearest Emily’s desk. He loosened his tie and shuffled through the papers he’d removed from the seat, briefly skimming their contents before tossing them onto the coffee table and pulling an empty glass towards himself.

“Thank you, Sir.” Seth replied as he filled the president’s glass. Then, setting the bottle back on the table, he explained, “Emily and I have been trying to work out when this is all going to start feeling real, you know. Like we’re not imposters in our jobs.  I guess with being sworn in and everything you had that moment right at the beginning.”

Tom stretched his legs out and laughed, “I still feel like I’m pretending Seth. I don’t think that’s going to go away until I’m actually elected to the presidency, if I’m elected that is, rather that acquiring it through a constitutional technicality.” He took a sip of whiskey and reached for the bottle, reading the label before setting it back down.

Emily eyed the president curiously, “So if you didn’t feel like the president after you took the oath of office, when did you?” she asked. After considering the number of decisions and responsibilities he’d been forced to take on that evening, she offered her own suggestion, “The Iranian ambassador?”

Tom shook his head, “No, it was when I was in the Oval Office reading through Seth’s speech. Right before I had to go on air.” He remembered reading the single sheet of paper under the glow of hot lights, his hand surprisingly steady despite his earlier nerves, while Alex attached a pin to the borrowed suit he had been wearing. That had been the moment he’d realised that everything was about to change not just for him but for his family as well.

Emily thought about what Seth had said earlier and nodded in understanding, “The office, the desk. It was being surrounded by the symbols of the presidency.” but to her surprise the president shook his head again. “Then what?” she pressed.

“The first line.” Tom responded, “It said ‘My fellow Americans’.”

“Yeah.” Seth answered, drawing the word out in confusion. He held the president’s gaze hoping that he would elaborate or Seth was going to remain at a loss for why those three words had had such an impact on him.

Tom smiled self-consciously, “Well, that’s what the president says.” he explained. “Everything else that happened that night, all the decisions I had to make. That was just because I was the highest ranking person available, but those words… they’re the president’s.”

“They’re yours.” Emily’s words were soft but the pride she felt in Tom Kirkman was clear and the blush that he tried to hide by ducking his head indicated that the president had not missed her meaning.

Acutely aware that nobody was ever truly at ease when he was in the room and feeling that he had imposed on their conversation for too long, Tom he drained his glass and rose from his chair. “Thank you, but I’ve got a long way to go before I get to keep them.” he said indicating the campaign paraphernalia which filled Emily’s office. He wished them a goodnight and clapped a hand on Seth’s shoulder as he left the room, preventing him from rising again.

Emily watched the president leave before moving to her desk and searching through the files littering its surface. Seth imitated her return to work, leafing through his papers for the most recent draft of the president’s speech and the pair returned once more to hashing out exactly which words were needed to open the president’s campaign. When they had agreed on a final draft of the speech, Seth pulled his laptop closer, caught Emily’s eye and smiled as he began to type, “My fellow Americans…”


End file.
